Fracking Does Contaminate Groundwater With Methane, But Jury Still Out On Process Overall

A study by Duke University has shown unsafe levels of methane gas in water taken from wells closer than 1000 m to gas-shale hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") operations. Results from ongoing studies by the University of Texas and the US Environmental Protection Agency are awaited with interest, since it is predicted at 45% of US natural gas production will be shale-gas by 2035, but presumably only if the process is deemed safe.

A study has been undertaken by Duke University of methane levels in
water from 68 private wells above the Marcellus and Utica shales in
Pennsylvania and New York. The details have just been published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/05/02/1100682108.full.pdf+html.
Of these, around one third were in an "active extraction area", which
by definition is within one kilometre of a gas well, the remainder being
more distant.

The results of the study are striking: in all but
one case, making 15 altogether, it is only within 800 metres of a
gas-well that levels of methane are high enough (10 - 28 mg/L) to merit
warning of the occupants and prudent remediation down to levels ; 10
mg/L, according to the US Office of the Interior, or above 28 mg/L at
which point "potentially explosive or flammable quantities of the gas
are being liberated in the well and/or may be liberated in confined
areas of the home," which requires immediate mitigation.
http://arblast.osmre.gov/downloads/Mine%20Gases%20and%20Dust/FINAL-Methane.pdf

In
this particular study, no evidence for fracking fluid finding its way
into the groundwater was found nor for intrusion from deep saline brines
into aquifers closer to the surface. According to an isotopic analysis,
the excess methane is consistent as originating from deeper
thermogenic sediments, rather than being produced biologically in near
surface environments.

The Energy Institute at the University of
Texas is set to conduct the first integrated study of the science,
policy and environmental issues surrounding hydraulic fracturing to
recover shale gas at a cost of $300,000, with preliminary findings
expected to be released in October. This project aims to combine an
independent assessment of groundwater contamination, fugitive air
emissions and seismic events for which fracking has been blamed in shale
formations, and to evaluate the effectiveness of legal regulations
attendant to the process, focussing on Barnett Shale, which extends
under over 20 counties in North Texas . The Environmental Protection
Agency is conducting its own investigation with results expected after
the end of the year 2012.

The
overall conclusions of these studies could not be more crucial to
future US energy provision. Production of shale-gas was 2.02 trillion
cubic feet (Tcf) in 2008: a 71% increase over the previous year, which
in 2009 grew 54% to 3.11 Tcf. Proven US shale reserves at the end of 2009 were observed to increase by 76% to 60.6 Tcf.
In its Annual Energy Outlook for 2011, the US Energy Information
Administration (EIA) more than doubled its estimate of technically
recoverable shale-gas reserves to 827 Tcf from 353 Tcf, by including
exploration data taken from new fields such as the Marcellus,
Haynesville and Eagle Ford shales. It is estimated that shale-gas
production will increase from 14% of total US natural gas
production in 2009 to 45% by 2035. But this of course depends on
whether the process of hydraulic fracking is proved sufficiently safe to
be so widely adopted.

Author
Biography: Chris Rhodes. www.fresh-lands.com Professor
Chris Rhodes is a writer, speaker and researcher who became involved with
environmental issues while working in Russia during the aftermath...

Author
Biography: Chris Rhodes. www.fresh-lands.com Professor
Chris Rhodes is a writer, speaker and researcher who became involved with
environmental issues while working in Russia during the aftermath...